Surfin' Love
by AnImaginationSleeper
Summary: Hugh does not surf for his fans, he surfs for the person he loves. Now a defending champion, Hugh moves back to his former home. He is shocked to see that Mei developed amnesia and does not remember him at all. Now heartbroken, he tries to mend the pieces of love and memory with the girl he pledged his life to.
1. Prologue: 5 Years Ago

_**Surfin' Love **_

**Prologue: 5 years ago**

_It was the day when he had to leave. Mei slammed the door closed as tears gushed from her eyes. She didn't want him to leave, she wanted him to stay. When he was there, everything seemed more fun. Now, he was leaving and there was nothing that she could do about it. _

_Hugh's fist slammed against the door, it rattled. "Mei!" he shouted. "Open up!" he shouted again. But Mei did not open up. She did not want to see him again. He knew that this was going to happen yet he did not tell her. _

"_MEI!" He shouted louder this time. "If you don't open up. I will break this door!" He shouted and added strength to his fists. Mei comply and the second she opened the door, he burst into the room and hugged her tight. _

_Hugh did not let go. Mei was crying about losing her best friend. "Mei..." Hugh laid his head on her hair. He kissed her hair and with a thumb wiped the tears sliding down her eyes. _

"_Don't cry," he said in a firm but gentle voice. "Don't cry," he repeated and placed his hand against her cheek._

_Mei wiped the remaining of her tears but held them back as Hugh released his embrace on her. He looked at her and gave her a sad smile. "I promise I will come back and live forever with you," Hugh said as he hugged her again. _

"_Mei, I LOVE YOU!" he said. "I want you to be more than just a friend. I want you to be my everything. Even out in the waves, your soul resonates with it!" he exclaimed. _

_Mei held back her tears. _

"_Hugh, I love you too!" Mei shouted. "I-I don't want you to leave!" she exclaimed. _

_Both of them hugged each other tightly as the car drove up in front of the house on the beach sand. Hugh looked outside and saw a familiar figure, it was his mother. _

_Mei's father came into the room and looked at both of them sadly. "Hugh, it's time," he said. _

_Hugh looked at Mei's father and nodded his head slowly. "Mei, don't you dare cry!" he exclaimed as he gave Mei one last hug._

_He left the room with Mei tailing after him. She was smiling but that smile was a sad smile. Both of them smiled at each other as Hugh entered the car. He gave Mei one last determined look before slamming the door shut. _

_As the car moved. Mei stood frozen until she started running. "HUGH! HUGH!" she shouted as she dropped onto the floor. _

_The car disappeared and Mei laid on the sand. She was crying and her father came rushing towards her. She was unconscious and he picked her up. _

_After a few hours, Mei woke up. She looked around her room and happily gave her father a smile. Her father was shocked. "Daddy, come on, let's go surfing!" she giddily exclaimed. _

"_Aren't you sad?" her father asked. _

"_Sad over what?" she asked. _

"_About Hugh's departure?" he asked. _

"_Who's Hugh? I never heard of him before!" she said. _


	2. Chapter 1: Amnesia

_**Surfin' Love **_

**Chapter 1: **

The wave begin to raise as Hugh paddled towards it. He stands on his board and jumps and does a flip. The crowd cheers as Hugh purposely slows down his movements, waiting to get inside the wave. The wave begins to close on him as he starts to speed up a little.

Hugh momentarily takes in the dream. His dream of staying inside the wave and never wanting to get out but reality isn't fair as he sighs and starts to speed up a lot more. He is out of the wave after the crowd was silence for a few moments. The crowd standing on the sand is now jumping and cheering but he pays them no mind.

Hugh does a spin with the board before the wave recedes and he surfs back onto shore.

"Hugh, magnificently scores a ten from all of the judges! Once again, he keeps his title as defending champion!" shouts the commentator as a crowd of reporters gather around him.

The competitor clicks his tongue in disgust. He hates Hugh for taking all of the glory and he vows to get revenge on him.

"Hugh, how does it feel to defend your title as champion?" a reporter asks as Hugh ignores the reporters. He doesn't answer at all and walks his way.

When he is finally away from the media's attention he sighs and catches a towel that is thrown at him. He looks up to see his best friend, Nate, smiling at him. Hugh gives a small smile before returning to his cool composure.

"So, how many years has it been?" Nate asks as he sits besides Hugh watching the sunset.

Hugh shrugs his head. "I don't keep track of time and I decline all interviews to go on TV shows and everything else of course," Hugh answers.

Nate shakes his head. "You keep that up and the reporters and paparazzi will start to suspect something," Nate said.

"I don't care about what others think," Hugh said. "Only you and someone else," Hugh adds. He flings the towel over his shoulder as he drinks the water that is given to him by one of the staff members.

Nate looks at him in surprise. "Someone else? You mean that there is someone else other than me that you talk to?" Nate asks and Hugh nods his head.

"Yes, but I rather not talk about," Hugh says.

"Come on! I'm your best friend. You HAVE to tell me about this person!" Nate exclaims excitedly. Hugh sighs as he knows that Nate will bother him to the end of the earth just to know who this person is.

"It was someone who was very important to me. She was the one who made me think that surfing is a part of me," Hugh smiles at a memory as Nate watches him intently talking about her.

"I don't surf for the people cheering," Hugh was suddenly serious as Nate sees him clench his fist. "I surf for her sake only," Hugh says.

"You sound like your in love with her," Nate turns back to looking at the setting sun and the seagulls flying near the setting sun.

"I am," Hugh answers bluntly.

Nate nearly chokes on his water as he hits his chest to get rid of it. After a few moments, Hugh is looking at him weirdly. Nate raises an eyebrow and points a finger at him.

"Y-You're in love with a person that I don't know about and then you rightfully admit that you're in love with her. There's got to be something wrong!" Nate exclaims as he grabs a fistful of his brown hair.

"There's nothing wrong," Hugh answers. "I met her before I met you," Hugh explains. "And the reason why I'm ignoring the reporters is because I'm always thinking about her," Hugh says.

Nate gawks at him as he unknowingly drops his hands to his side and the water is now gushing out of the bottle.

"I pledged my life to her," Hugh suddenly says as the last of the sun is gone and dusk is setting in.

The only sound is the waves crashing against the shore. A sound that Hugh is all to familiar with since he spent his whole entire life at the beach and in the ocean.

"What are you standing there for? Stop looking so surprises and let's go home before it gets too dark," Hugh explains.

Nate finally snaps out of his shock when Hugh said this. He sighs and looks down at his feet. He feels like Hugh told something that was deep in his heart and he vows to never tell anyone about this.

"So, how many times have you defended your title?" Nate asks.

Hugh looks at his fingers and starts to count. "About five times I think," Hugh answers and Nate gawks at him again.

"What now?" Hugh asks and sighs. He was getting annoyed by all the gawking that Nate was giving him.

"Do you know what you just did?" Nate asks.

"No," Hugh answers.

"Are you that damn oblivious!?" Nate asks once again.

"Yes," Hugh answers because he knows that he's oblivious for ignoring the reporters and not even knowing that the crowd is cheering only when Nate tells him.

"You just broke the record as the longest lasting champion!" Nate exclaims.

Hugh looks at him weirdly. What does the title have to do with him anyways? It's not like he even cares about that title, he's just working hard for the girl that he loves and that's that. He knows that it's nothing to talk about at all.

"So?" Hugh asks.

Nate sighs as he looks at Hugh. "It's not like something like that matters to you anyway," Nate sighs.

"That's right, so don't talk about all that useless stuff," Hugh says.

"But you don't even take home your damn trophy!" Nate said.

"You could at least bring home a trophy but for all of the championships that you enter, you don't even take home the trophy but instead you just go straight home!" Nate exclaims.

"I told you I don't care about that stuff as long as the person I love is watching," Hugh calmly says. He swears that he is going to go on migraine medication if Nate is going to keep on ranting about all the useless things that he should have done.

So what about the trophies? It's not like they were important or anything. He doesn't even care a single bit about them at all. He would rather keep his house clean and tidy instead of having junk fill up his house.

"Hahh, there's no point talking in talking to you about these stuff," Nate sighs and looks at the ocean waves. "That's right, now shut up and start walking," Hugh says as he grabs his board near the lifeguard station.

Some fans are squealing as Hugh walks pass them, as always, he pays them no mind.

"So, are you going to go anywhere this summer instead of surfing at the beach near your house?" Nate asks.

Hugh thinks for a moment before the smile comes back again. The smile that he shows when he talks about the girl that he loves.

"Yes, I plan on living with the girl that I love for a few months," Hugh says. "My dad already prepared me to move in with her," Hugh smiles.

"You could come along since we prepared your stuff too," Hugh says.

"YES!" Nate jumps in excitement as Hugh knocks on the door.

His father opens the door and greets both of them. "So how was the competition, Hugh?" asks his father.

"Boring, the only good thing is always being inside the wave," Hugh answers and his father laughs lightly.

"I agreed, when I was a professional surfer, that was the only thing I looked forward to!" he exclaims as Hugh walks into the house and opens up the fridge. He takes out two sandwiches.

"How about you Nate?" Hugh's father asks.

Nate slumped his shoulders and looks at the sandwich that Hugh gave him. "He lost on the first round, but he is still better than the finalist that I competed with and all of the other losers," Hugh said as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Now, now, Hugh, don't be that harsh to the competitors," his father says. "They try as hard as you," he says.

"No they don't. I don't even see them try," Hugh says.

His father sighs and looks at Hugh with worry. He knows why Hugh has turned into a somewhat conceited person. He rather not talk about it since it was a long and dark past.

"So when is the old woman going to come and visit?" Hugh asks. His voice is suddenly filled with bitterness that Nate and Hugh's father only hear when they talk about that 'old woman'.

"Your mother is going to come in a week," he answers.

Hugh smirks triumphantly. "Good, I will be gone before she even comes," Hugh said.

Nate looks at Hugh with worry. He could see the hatred in his eyes when it came to talking about his mother or 'old woman' that he refers to. He knows the reason why Hugh is disrespectful to her because he saw what that 'old woman' did to him.

Though Asian, Hugh doesn't follow the Confucian way of "respect your elders". He believes that respect comes when you're close to that person not when that person treats you wrongly. He only shows respect when someone shows it to him in return.

Hugh prepares his things and puts it near the door. Nate does the same thing, unable to contain his excitement, he jumps in happiness again.

Hugh suddenly throws an envelope at his father. "Father, that's my monthly paycheck from Dell's American Cuisine," he said. "I haven't looked in the envelope," he said.

His father curiously opens the envelope and looks inside. His eyes widen at the amount of money inside. He counts the hundred dollar bills and looks at Hugh with surprise. "This is over $2,000 dollars you're giving me!" he exclaims.

"Father, shut up and take the money. I know how harsh your boss is on you so as your son you must take the money," he said.

His father smiles at him. For a fifteen year old, Hugh was pretty mature for his age. "So tomorrow I'm going to Japan so you better keep my room and the house clean," Hugh said.

"Okay," his father answers.

"Nate, let's go," Hugh said.

"When are we going to arrive there?" Nate asks as he puts his luggage at the back of the trunk of the rental car. Hugh does the same thing.

"It's going to take thirty minutes to get to the airport," the driver answers as Nate enters the car and puts on his seat belt.

Hugh follows suit and puts on his seat belt. "How much?" Hugh asks. "Thirty five dollars," the driver asks and Hugh lazily takes out a hundred dollar bill and gives it to the driver. The driver starts looking for change but Hugh shakes his head.

"Keep it, I brought too much money with me so I rather make some space," Hugh said.

"Thank you," the driver smiles at Hugh and starts the car to drive.

* * *

Mei jumps up and down in excitement at the news that she heard. "We're going to have guests living here?" Mei asked as she gave her mother a hug.

"Yes," her mother answers.

"I can't wait for them to come!" Mei squeals in excitement. "Now we don't have two empty rooms anymore!" Mei brings her hands up in triumphant and smiles at her mother.

"So, what are the name of these two?" she asks.

"I don't know who they are yet," she answers.

Mei gawked at how stupid her mother is. "Mom, you brought in a bunch of strangers!?" Mei angrily asked as she took her mother by the collar and shook her a bit.

"Mei, stop strangling your mother because it was me who brought them in," her father sighed as he looked through the storage room.

Scratch that, it wasn't her mother who brought in a bunch of strangers but her father! "Dad, you just brought in a bunch of people that I don't know!" Mei angrily shouts at her father.

"Father do you even know what strangers might do!? They might wreck this house and take everything in it!" she exclaims.

Her father sighs and looks down at the ground. They weren't a bunch of strangers. They were Hugh and Nate, one of them Mei knew but she forgotten about him.

The room is silent and Mei stomps out of her house in fury. "I'm going surfing to cool off!" she exclaims as she takes her surf board but stops when she sees another surf board. She looks to see where it was made from but there is no brand at all. The board is wooden and flexible but it doesn't seem to be made by any company.

"Father, why doesn't this board have any brand on it?" she asks.

From the corner of her eye, she sees her father smirking at her. "That board was handmade by someone who once came here. Unfortunately, he is coming today," he explains as he walks up to the board and smiles at it.

They were a bunch of strangers that she didn't even know and Mei rolls her eyes. She walks out of the house with her board and into the ocean. Mei starts to paddle when she suddenly sees a wave and a surfer.

He goes up and down, gaining momentum and then jumps into the air with his board. He does three flips and lands on top of the wave, grinding on it.

Mei watches in amazement as her heart suddenly beats erratically. She wonders why this is happening when she haven't even met him yet.

"WOOTS! Nice one, Hugh!" shouts a voice as Mei looks at the boy standing on the sand with what seems to be luggages.

"Thanks, Nate," Hugh said as he suddenly sees Mei. His heart is now beating faster as he surfs out of the impact zone and looks at Mei. Both of them are staring at each other when he suddenly sees a wave nearing her.

"Watch out!" he shouts as he starts to paddle towards her. He grunts and without a second thought he jumps off his board and into the ocean. He swims as fast as he can and saves Mei just in time the wave hits them.

They are washed onto shore by the water as Hugh lightly shakes Mei. "Hey, are you okay?" he asks and Mei slowly opens her eyes.

Both of them stare at each other for a moment before Mei jumps back and points a finger at them. "W-who are you people?" she asks, her guard now up.

For a second, she thought she saw sadness in the eyes of the one who saved her. He then smiles at her and brings out his hand. "I'm Hugh," he says as Mei hesitantly shakes his hand.

"I'm Nate!" shouts Nate as he comes rushing towards them.

"Hello there, Hugh and Nate," said Mei's father as he smiled at Hugh and waved at them.

"Mei, these two would be your mentors. I don't want to hear any complaining from you," he said.

"Oh yes and Hugh, I would like to talk to you about the schedule, so come with me," he said and Hugh nods his head.

As soon as the two of them are away from earshot, Hugh looks at Mei's father.

He goes straight to the point. "What happened to her?" Hugh asks. "It's like...she doesn't remember me at all," Hugh looks at the ground and clenches his fist.

Mei's father places an arm on his shoulder. "She developed amnesia and erased all of her memories of you," he looks at the ground, forlorn as he continues to speak.

Hugh stood frozen at this news. Sweat is trickling down his neck as he asks his next set of questions. "W-when did this happen?" he asks.

"After you left, she chased the car but she fell unconscious," he said. "When she woke up, she didn't remember you at all," he said.

Hugh clicks his tongue in frustration and slams his large fist against a tree. "Damn it!" he screams out loud. Hugh holds back the tears as he remembers all of his times with Mei fondly.

"Even if she forgets, I'll make her fall in love with me again," Hugh says with determination. "I'll make sure that no guy would lay a single finger on her!" he demands.


	3. Chapter 2: Beauty of the Sea

_**Surfin' Love **_

**Chapter 2: Beauty of the Sea **

Her father was right. After being mentored by Hugh, she improved dramatically. She wondered why she hasn't seen or heard of a surfer this good, as good as Hugh. Now on the water, Hugh was standing there, waiting for a wave to come but there was no wave.

"Looks like the ocean isn't cooperating with us today," he sighs as he lays down on his board and watches Mei as she looks for waves.

"There comes one," he whispers as the sudden wave starts coming into view. The surging energy is now nearing Mei as she paddles towards the wave and stands on her board with her legs bent for good balance.

Hugh watches as Mei stays in one place instead of moving up and down. His eyes widen as Mei jumps into the air with her board and does a small flip.

"Stop smiling like an idiot," Nate says as he paddles towards them. "I'm not. It's just fun to watch," Hugh explains as he stands on his board with his legs bent.

"Hey, Mei!" exclaims Nate as Mei softly drifts towards them. Mei looks at Nate weirdly.

"Be the judge! Between Hugh and I, the loser has to pay for dinner tonight!" he happily exclaims. Hugh rolls his eyes and starts to paddle farther into the ocean to look for any waves.

As the first wave comes, Hugh dives under with his board and Nate goes over the wave. As Hugh is about to criticize, Nate tells him to shut up. "This is a competition so I don't want your help!" Nate exclaims.

At this rate I'm going to win, Hugh thinks as the next wave is coming.

He stands on his board as the water is splashing against him. He feels at ease with the wind blowing against his face as he closes his eyes and unknowingly stands on one hand. He jumps into the air with his board and spins until he lands on the wave and grinds on it.

Mei looks in amazement as Hugh gets off his hand and goes back to his original position on the board. Her heart is beating faster now. The water seems to be glistening as Hugh surfs the wave.

She watches as Nate does a spin and a 360 flip and lands perfectly on the wave again.

She writes down the score for both and holds up both pads.

Hugh looks in her direction and smiles. It is a ten from the girl that he loves. He looks at Nate's score and smiles at it too.

"Yay! A nine!" Nate exclaims happily as he jumps off his board and into the water and splashes around in happiness.

"I'm leaving you. If you drown, it's not my fault," Hugh says as he paddles back onto shore.

Mei looks down at the ground. She tries to hide her blush by taking their drinks. Hugh looks at her wierdly as Nate sighs at how oblivious both of them are. Even he could tell that both of them like each other and yet the other side does not know.

Mei comes back with two bottles of water and a Taro Bubble Milk Tea. She gives the bottles of water to Hugh and Nate looks at the light purple drink.

Mei pokes her straw into the drink. She smiles at how tasty it is when she notices Hugh looking at her. She blushes again when he suddenly nears her.

"G-get awa-" she is cut off when Hugh balances her from falling.

"Don't hit your head," he says in a calm voice as he goes back to drinking his water. Every now and then, he looks at her drink and her.

Finally, Mei has enough of Hugh's staring and forcefully hands her drink to him. "Do you want it or not?" she asks shyly.

Hugh gives her a sincere smile and she is redder this time. "Of course," he answers as he takes the drink and sips on it.

Mei watches as Hugh's mouth covers the straw and then she notices something, it was an indirect kiss. He munches on the black bubbles and hands the drink back to Mei.

"Thanks," he says and Mei shakily takes the drink.

Nate watches with a sly smile at what Hugh just did.

Hugh's eyes widen as he suddenly touches his mouth. He blushes furiously as Mei and Nate are looking at him.

"Uhh, I'm going to the bathroom," he says as he dashes off to the bathroom with Nate suddenly laughing.

Mei laughs too at how funny Hugh's blushing face was.

"That's the first time I've seen him blush," Nate comments as he holds onto Mei's shoulder for support.

"Your friend is so childish!" Mei comments as she gives a sincere smile.

She suddenly feels the atmosphere turn sour as she looks at Nate. Nate suddenly looks gloomily as he turns and sighs.

"Aren't you his friend too? From the past," Nate says as Mei looks at him with surprise.

"No, I don't remember anyone by the name of Hugh in my childhood. I remember being in the water a lot but only with my dad and mom and that's it," Mei's says.

She tries to remember Hugh but whenever she tries, her head starts to hurt and she knows that it's useless trying to remember.

I feel like I forgot someone really important, Mei thought as she puts the drink down. Her face looks forlorn and she stands up.

"Nate, you're paying for dinner tonight and don't blame me if you waste all of your money!" Hugh exclaims as he helps Nate get up.

Nate laughs as he holds Hugh's large shoulder for support. "I've been practicing to use littler money back in Hawaii!" exclaims Nate as he flashes a toothy smile at Hugh. Hugh folds his arms and gives a smirk because Nate has only been saving money for himself but he doesn't know how to spend wisely when it comes to a large group of people and Hawaiian food.

Mei looks at them and then at the ground. She wonders when she is going to have a best friend who she could causally chat with and have fun with.

Hugh notices the considerable distance that Mei put between them. Hugh walks up to Mei and places an arm around her. "Let's go eat at a buffet!" exclaims Nate but Hugh shakes his head. "Hawaiian food but I don't think Japan has that!" exclaims Hugh and he gives a sincere smile to Mei at the same time.

"Mei, don't think that you're all alone because you already have two friends here," Hugh says with the sincere smile still on his face.

Mei smiles back in gratitude for cheering her up. Both of them head towards Mei's house and both parents greet them formally.

"So, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?" Mei's father asks as he rubs his belly. "Hawaiian food!" Nate exclaims. "I will make you guys taste power of Hawaii!" exclaims Nate only to get a head smack from Hugh.

"Say it properly you idiot," Hugh calmly says as he sighs.

Just as Hugh is about to go out to get some fresh air, he stops and looks at the board idly standing at the entrance of the house. How come he just notices it now? A memory comes back to him as he smiles at how clear it is.

"_Okay, we're done! Now Hugh has his own board!" Mei happily exclaims. _

"_Now all we have to do is polish it!" exclaims Mei's father as he took the board and brought it into his workplace. He smiles at the kids' handiwork and notices both of their exceptional skill at crafting. _

"_Crafting is an art just like surfing is an art in a sense were for both we develop our own style," he suddenly said with a smile. _

_Both of them smile at this comment. _

"_Starting tomorrow, Hugh will be able to surf with his own board," he calmly said with a smile. _

"_YAY!" Mei cheers happily and Hugh just smiles. _

He takes the surfboard and brings it back to his room. Mei could still see the smile lingering on his face and then it hit her that this boy has came here before. Her minds shows a small fragment of a forgotten memory of a boy with the same hair as Hugh standing next to the same board with the same smile on his face. She didn't get a clear view of his eyes but she was sure that it was him. Mei keeps to herself and does not talk about this.

* * *

As the family and the boys start to look for a restaurant with Hawaiian food in it, Mei couldn't help but laugh. She wonders if Hugh and Nate have been spending too much time in the ocean to even forget the directions of the restaurants and her parents were the same too.

Mei walks toward a restaurant and looks at it. There, plastered in bald letters and in capitals, said "**HAWAII CUISINE**" and Hugh gives himself a face palm for how oblivious he is.

Nate dashes into the restaurant and calls for a table of five. The waiter professionally leads them to the empty table at the left hand corner of the wooden-like restaurant. Hugh looks around and sees that the owners or whoever thought of the decorations did a pretty good job of mimicking the Hawaiian culture.

They all look through the menu and Hugh is the first to call for the order. "Two Chicken and Pineapple Skewers and a Loco Moco," he orders.

Mei looks at Hugh in surprise. How does he know what she liked? Hugh turns towards her and just gives her a smile before conversing with Nate. "So, thanks for wasting your money on us," Hugh sarcastically gives him a pat on the back.

Mei's father raises his hand for an order. "A Paradise Crab Dip Wonton and a Ahi Tuna," he orders and the waiter writes everything down before calling out the orders.

"How come everyone is staring at us?" asks Mei as she looks around the room. They weren't staring at her but at the person next to her, Hugh.

"You mean they're staring at Hugh," Nate corrects her. Mei is able to hear some of their whispers.

"Mei, did you not know that Hugh is famous for being the teen surfing prodigy from the US?" Nate asks her as he drinks his water.

"Surfing prodigy, what do you mean?" she asks.

"What I mean is that-" Nate is suddenly cut off when Hugh puts his hand over Nate's mouth. "There's something called shut up from the person who doesn't want to hear it," Hugh says as he glares at Nate for his loud mouth.

"S-sorry," Nate says as he sweat drops at Hugh's menacing glare. That glare of his was scary. He wonders how he is able to perfect such a glare when he was born and raised in the ocean.

There was an awkward silence since Hugh seems to be hiding something from Mei and she ponders about it. She didn't know that Hugh was a surfing legend back in the US. And usually news spreads pretty quickly to Japan so she wonders. It was the fact that she never looks at the news her entire life and she sighs at something so obvious.

"Here are your orders," says the waiter as he places the plate of Loco Moco and Chicken and Pineapple Skewers on the table. Nate quickly digs into his food and starts eating the pork sitting on the rice.

"Nothing could beat Loco Moco!" Nate exclaims as he gulps down his water and goes for another round of his food. Hugh sighs as he compares his plate to Nate's. Only a little bit of the skewers is eaten while half of the Loco Moco is already gone.

"Watch, he's going to order another plate," Hugh says as he drinks his water and starts eating his food as well but normally.

By the time the parent's orders come in, Nate has already eaten three plates of Loco Moco and this was how he was drowning his money. Hugh was right, even though he learned how to save but when it came to Hawaiian Cuisine he went all out.

"I think we should stop him," says Mei's mother who was watching Nate eat his food.

Hugh waved his hand in refusal. "Don't, let him be," Hugh says as he takes another bite of his food. "He's going to end up paying for all of us anyways," Hugh says.

Mei is also chomping on her skewers but at a much slower rate. Savoring the moment, she takes another bite of the chicken and finishes her first stick.

"You eat fast," she hear Hugh comments and then looks at Nate. "At least you're more normal than him," Hugh points at Nate.

"H-Hey, w-w-who you callin' a-a-abnormal?" Nate asks in between munches. Hugh feign disgust as he could see the food in his mouth. Much to his dismay, Nate didn't seem to care. Hugh's anger gets the best of him.

"I've told you a billion times, don't talk while eating!" he yells at Nate and Nate just slowly nods his head. He heard this lecture a billion time and he didn't care. Food or whatever maybe he should try to listen once in a while.

Everyone around the table laughs at the sight of Nate eating his food. Once everything is finished, Nate ended up wasting all of his money. It was pretty obvious to Hugh since Nate has eaten ten plates of Loco Moco and his stomach still doesn't grow. It likes there is some kind of dark hole in there that just sucks everything in but it doesn't grow.

"Damn it! My 20,000 yen is down to the sewers!" Nate exclaims as he sadly looks at his empty wallet. It was his fault for going all out.

Mei tries to hold in her laughter. "Looks like Hugh was correct. He jinxed it on the spot!" she exclaims as she laughs at the sight of Nate crying for his money.

* * *

Everyone is asleep except for Hugh. He still active at night because he is waiting for something to happen. It happens every night but sometimes he is so tired that it doesn't take long for him to stay awake. Tonight, though, was different. The mood brought by the family during eating their dinner in the restaurant was uplifting so he didn't have time to sleep.

When he heard the door slam, that was his cue to sneak out of bed and look at the waves and the person surfing on it. Yep, it was Mei. He didn't even deny the fact when he sees the shade of her pigtails against the rushing wind.

The stars from the rural side brings enough light so he didn't even need to bring a flashlight. He didn't even want to bring a flashlight because if he did, then he would have been spotted.

Mei gains momentum as she moves up and down. She executes the small flip that she did herself when Hugh was training her.

Hugh is captivated by Mei. Even though in the past, Mei never told him about surfing at night, he knew that she always did it. He woke up one day in the middle of the night, when everyone is sleeping and when he looked out the window at the right time. There he saw Mei surfing and every now and then, he would watch her.

Hugh smiles and says something loud enough for even Mei to hear. He chuckles a bit before putting his hand on his chin. "You're always the 'Beauty of the Sea'," he says.


	4. Chapter 3: Bring it On

_**Surfin' Love **_

**Chapter 3: Bring it On**

Today is the day when people from all over Japan come to visit the rural beach. Of course for Hugh and Nate they didn't have to travel since they moved into Mei's house to stay for the summer. Hugh knew that he was going to get comfortable staying in the house.

He watched as the people poured in. He didn't like it one bit. Presumably because of the young men and disguised rapists on the beach. He didn't want people looking at Mei, touching her, giving her a hand shake, and a hell lot more things that involved physical contact. If they did do anything to the extreme, Hugh would intentionally kill them with no hesitation. And he literally meant that, literally.

Mei takes out her board and happily goes out to the beach. Hugh follows suit along with Nate. Hugh wasn't going to surf today because he would be keeping a very close eye on Mei. Nate smacks him on the back and tells him to have fun but how is he going to have fun when there were so much people on the beach? Danger could be lurking right around the corner so he has to be alert.

Hugh shakes his head. He isn't going to let his guard down. He watches Mei.

Mei paddles towards the shore when a sudden voice calls out to her. "MEI!" shouts the voice and she turns to see the person. It is her friends back in middle school and they would be attending the same high school this year.

They run up to her and look at her in amazement. "I never knew you could surf!" one of them exclaim as she looks at Mei with adoring eyes. Mei would never tell her friends that she could surf because to her, it was too personal and embarrassing. She was pretty sure that no one would understand the indescribable feeling when she surfed.

Mei scratches the back of her head in nervousness.

"I'm still learning..." she says.

Part of it is true though. She is being mentored by Hugh who is legendary himself but she was a surfer her whole life. She is used to the waves by now.

She is talking to her friends. Well, at least they are girls and not guys or else he would have to be conscious. Still...he has to be alert.

He watches as Mei goes into the water with her friends are cheering her on. It seems to Hugh that Mei isn't use to something like this since she is blushing. As the wave starts to come, Mei goes up and down to gain momentum. She purposely slows down so the wave could catch up to her. Within a moment, she is inside the wave with the light on the other side of the clear blue tunnel. Mei feels like she is in a dream until she reaches the light on the other side and the wave quickly dies down.

Her friends clap for her.

Another wave starts to raise and this one is much bigger than the one that Mei rode on before. Hugh gulps at the thought of injury but he feels assured at the same time.

Mei as always goes up and down to gain speed. As she reaches the top, she jumps with all her might into the air with her board. She spins and flip at the same time and lands perfectly on the wave. Mei did not know it but at that instant, she was able to catch the attention of everyone on the beach.

Hugh could feel the inside of his heart being pricked by thorns. It was a feeling that he isn't use to and he wonders what it is.

Nate nudges his side and gives him a sly smile. "Look," he says as he points at Mei talking with a few guys, big bulky guys that she does not know.

"Come on, surf with us," says one of them looking at her with lust.

Hugh could feel the beast within his heart trying to crush the cage. Instantly, without a second thought, he goes up to the men and sees Mei's troubled expression. He is glad that she sighs in relief once he's in sight.

He puts a hand on one of the bulky guy's shoulder, gripping it tightly. The men turn over and glare at Hugh but when Hugh glares back. Some of them are already trying to keep their composure. He could tell that they are scared.

The one who Hugh is gripping his shoulder is glaring at him menacingly. Nate observes and sees that the bad big man's glare is weak and puny compare to Hugh's perfected glare.

The bulky man that was once looking at Mei with lusty eyes is now glaring at Hugh who is obviously angry.

Hugh goes right in the middle to where Mei is and puts his arm just below her neck. "She's mine," he growls at them but the big men do not move from their spot. Instead, they glare at Hugh who took away their prey.

"We set eyes on her first," one of them say. Hugh smirks at this. "It doesn't necessary mean that she's yours," he growls at them, trying to contain the beast within his heart.

"So, what is her name?" Hugh suddenly asks. The men are suddenly taken back from this question.

"What does she like to do? Do you even know where she lives? Do you not see that she's uncomfortable around you?" Hugh asks as his grip around her tightens.

The men are now losing their composure. Some of are giving him a shocked look while the others are trying to hold in their anger.

"Think about others before you make your move," Hugh says bluntly before going right pass them with his arm around her.

One of them men suddenly comes up to Hugh and grabs him by the shoulder. "Hey, why don't we have a competition for her?" he asks with a smirk. "You against the three of us," says the man.

"Hey, that's un-" Nate is suddenly cut off with Hugh puts his left hand over his mouth to shut him up.

Hugh smirks at them. "We're the best in this town when it comes to surfing so don't be surprised when we take her," he says.

"H-Hugh don't accept the challenge!" Mei exclaims. Hugh shakes his head.

They are about to bet on his most precious and he isn't going to let anyone get away from thinking that she is a reward. No, they're going to pay ten times the hell for thinking of her as a thing and not a human. He clenches his fist.

"Let's let the surfing do the talking," Hugh says as he pushes Mei to Nate for protection. Nate shakes his head in refusal and thinks what the heck his best friend has gotten into.

"N-Nate you're not going to stop him?" Mei asks in surprise. "No," Nate says because he knows that Hugh would never let a challenge go down, especially a challenge for Mei.

Nate knows that Hugh's anger has gotten the best of him but he was always calmed instantly when he was in the water.

Hugh and the other three men takes their boards and goes out to surf. The quarrel has brought quite a crowd and now the people are gathering to watch this unofficial competition. Mei gulps as she thinks that Hugh is going to lose but she believes in him.

They played in the wrong territory. They should have known that but they didn't. Once Hugh was in the sea, he felt like he was at home. He's been in the ocean for fifteen years of his life and no one knew the sea better than he did. They were playing in his territory and the sea is his home. It was his natural partner that would always back him up no matter what happened.

The competition may have been unfair but to him it was nothing more than a simple flip of a dime. Tails is for losing and heads is for winning and the wave would always go for tails.

They surfed towards the first wave. Hugh let his instincts take over as he dives under while the others go over. Some of them click their tongue in disappointment. They didn't know that they were going against the five-time champion from the US. There was a huge gap in difference.

As the real wave starts to come, Hugh stands up and starts going up and down. He is suddenly interrupted by two surfers that are trying to block his path. He smirks and goes all the way back into the wave and the surfers follow suit just to lose their balance and fall into the water. The surging force is too much for them and now it is only down to the leader.

He panicky looks at Hugh and looks for any attempt to run away. Hugh knows that he is useless when his buddies weren't backing him up. He surfs towards the opening of the wave and once he is far enough from it, he jumps into the air.

He does a few flips before landing a couple of feet in front of the bulky man. The bulky man tries to spray the water into his face but Hugh is already use to something like this so it is futile. Hugh goes to the end of the wave and the crowds are now cheering him on.

Hugh has already won the match. The losers bang their fist against their boards in frustration at the lost.

"She's mine," Hugh growls before surfing back onto shore and now the crowd is hovering around him. That's what the champion always does, Nate thinks and sighs.

Mei just watches in amazement. It is like Hugh is in harmony with the sea. Usually it is stated that the best surfers are those who have fun but being in harmony with the sea is also the same way. Hugh makes the sea think that everything is alright because he is there. It just seems that Hugh wasn't even born on concrete ground but in the clear crystal water where he feels so at ease.

Both of them make eye contact and Mei instantly looks down to cover her blush. Whenever their eyes met, Mei always felt a panning sensation from her chest. She is suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when one of the guys walk up to Hugh.

He grabs Hugh by the shoulder and glares at him. "What the hell are you?" he asks. Hugh scratches the side of his ear and roughly pushes the guy off. He glares at him before walking to Mei. He ignores the guy but he is persistent as he stops Hugh again.

"I'm just an ordinary guy that likes to surf," Hugh lies. Part of it was true, to him of course. First of all, he wasn't an ordinary guy to the media, he is this legendary surfer from the US. Second of all, he doesn't have fun when it comes to surfing because he only surfs for the girl he loves, Mei, and no one else.

The guy just gives him a surprise look before Hugh once again roughly pushes his hand off his shoulder. Nate gives him a pat on the back and Hugh just smiles. Mei then realizes something. If Hugh was in a competition, then, they had to bet on something.

Turned out that they were betting on her. She was really slow to not even notice this. She wanted to slap Hugh across the face but she didn't after what he said yesterday night. It made her stop in her tracks the first time she saw Hugh looking at her with a serene smile on his face. It was when he called her a beauty and Mei just blushed once again.

Hugh was possessive. He put his hand on Mei's shoulder and ignored the crowd that followed. After what seemed to be a few minutes, the crowd instantly dispersed when Hugh pointed towards the sky and said "UFO!"

They ran away from the crowd just in time for them to turn around. Nate, Hugh, and Mei ended up in an abandoned shack. That was there only hiding place for now. Hugh did not want to face the crowd and touches his forehead at the headache.

"I hate crowds," he calmly says as Mei looks at him with worry but there was also another emotion in her eyes. He could see a bit of...anger. He instantly grabs Mei's shoulders, surprising Nate and Mei. He stares at her seriously before letting his hands slide down to her waist and sighs.

He doesn't look up when he asks his question. "What did I do wrong?" he suddenly asks Mei. His crimson eyes, forlorn, he didn't want Mei to be angry or hate him. He was scared that he was going to lose her.

"N-Nothing," Mei answers as she crosses her arm. This was a sign of her anger and that can't be nothing.

Hugh knows her so well that he knows that she is lying when she said that.

"Tell the truth," his voice is suddenly dark.

Both Nate and Mei jump at his voice laced with bitterness. There is an uncomfortable silence that follows. Hugh is waiting for Mei to answer. Nate is just standing in between the two who don't feel comfortable with each other at all.

Mei starts but she stutters with her words. "Y-yes, I was angry," Mei answers.

Hugh still has his head lowered but he was listening. "I didn't like how you guys placed me as the bet," and Hugh face palms himself.

"That's it?" he asks, showing a bit of bewilderment. Nate is trying to hold in his laugh. "You were angry at that? Something so small!" Hugh exclaims. He didn't laugh as he looks and Mei and smiles at her. Her heart is once again beating erratically.

"I wasn't trying to bet you, Mei. I was trying to protect you," he says and for a moment everything just seems to freeze when Hugh said those words.

Nate just gawks at Hugh as he didn't know that he was capable of doing something like that.

Suddenly a fragment of a forgotten memory comes back to life. It just a dull, black and white picture but she is able to see the person in there. A boy that looks like Hugh but she isn't even sure if it was him, laughing at a funny picture of Mei.

Mei's eyes widen in surprise as she didn't know that she was going to remember these things again. It wasn't like she was going to know whether or not she did meet Hugh in her past because if she did, she would remember everything.

She's just confused about everything that Hugh suddenly gives her a worry look and hugs her. She blushes furiously.


End file.
